“Stab in the Back”: U.S-funded Ukraine Sells Military Tech to China

A source from the Russian Center for Analysis of the World Arms Trade says that the US is not likely to ignore Ukraine’s sale of Ukrainian aircraft engines to China. In response, Washington might freeze its program of military aid to Kiev, RusVesna reports.

This anonymous source’s testimony to major Russian media follows The Washington Times citing of reports in China Daily that the Ukrainian company Motor Sich has delivered 20 engines for 12 JL-10 combat-training aircraft to China.

The Ukrainian-Chinese contract as a whole is worth 380 million dollars and provides for the sale of 250 aircraft engines in total.

The Washington Post, however, did not provide any commentary by the Ukrainian manufacturer or official Kiev, with American experts simply commenting that in so doing, Ukraine is “stabbing the US in the back” while receiving military hardware funded by American taxpayers.

The representative of the Russian Center for Analysis of the World Arms Trade commented on this matter: ‘While the US has allocated 250 million dollars for military aid to Ukraine, Kiev is supplying aircraft engines which strengthen the military potential of Beijing, which has been declared one of Washington’s main military and economic opponents. Thus arises a very interesting collision which I am confident will not go without notice by Congress and the Trump Administration.’’

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In turn, the expert suggested that such political duplicity could have serious consequences for Kiev, including the freezing of US military assistance to the increasingly bankrupt country.

“[Ukrainian President] Poroshenko is trying to milk all the major world players despite existing accepted commitments, and if Congress is responsible for the US’ security, then it should liquidate the funds allocated for arming Ukraine and it should free its program of military assistance to the country,” the arms trade analyst suggested.

Nor is this the first such instance on Kiev’s part, as it was exposed several months ago that Ukraine had supplied missile technology to another of Washington’s enemies: North Korea.

This follows US President Donald Trump’s recent signing of the US defense budget for the 2019 fiscal year which totals around 716 billion dollars. This is 3% or 20 billion more than the 2018 budget. Military assistance to Ukraine, including the supply of “lethal weapons”, is allocated 250 million dollars in the new budget, which is an increase of 50 million from last year.

Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, has commented that the American weapons being sent to Kiev are going into the hands of politicians who are not interested in resolving the conflict in Donbass.